Wouldn’t it be nice to actually watch some Canadian news that does not include wall to wall coverage of Trump or Covid-19?

The Canadian media’s breathless fascination with every tweet from Trump or mutterings of every so-called political expert (99% of whom you have never heard of before) on the USA situation has become repetitious and frankly boring.

The same holds true for the daily Covid updates with our media talking heads breathlessly announcing the new numbers, keeping score hour by hour. How many “expert” medical commentators can they dream up? How about adding some context to the new daily numbers- what age groups, how many were in long term care homes etc. I wear my mask; I am in an at risk age category and a business that brings me into contact with a lot of people- that information is important. If you are going to broadcast numbers give me details.

Believe it or not there is some other Canadian news out there- the destruction of documents intended for a parliamentary committee review (hey guys they are saved on more than one server), a government racking up debt at an alarming pace without bringing in a formal budget (our grandchildren will be paying for Trudeau’s spending), a so-called green plan is coming and I bet there will be no release of economic studies on its impact in the short and long terms. But somehow the colour of Trump’s hair is important.

The truth is its easier to regurgitate numbers supplied to you on Covid-19 than to investigate the details. It is easier to quote Trump and US experts than to do investigative journalism here.

Back in 1970, Canada went through a crisis not seen in recent times. It began with the kidnapping of British diplomat James Cross in Montreal on October 9, 1970 by the FLQ (Front de libération du Québec). However, it had been preceded by a wave of some 200 bombings between 1963 and 1970 which killed 6 people.

Within the next two weeks, FLQ members also kidnapped and killed Quebec Minister of Immigration and Minister of Labour Pierre Laporte . At that point the Quebec premier and the Mayor of Montreal asked for federal help to deal with the crisis.

Fifty years ago today on October 12^th 1970 Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau asked the Canadian Armed Forces to deploy soldiers in Ottawa to protect high-profile people and locations.

“The next day, CBC reporter Tim Ralphe questioned Trudeau at the front entrance of the Parliament Buildings. Ralphe expressed concern about the heavy military presence in the city. Trudeau replied, “Yes, well there are a lot of bleeding hearts around who just don’t like to see people with helmets and guns. All I can say is, go on and bleed, but it is more important to keep law and order in the society than to be worried about weak-kneed people.” Ralphe asked Trudeau exactly how far he was willing to go. Trudeau responded, “Well, just watch me.” (Canadian Encyclopedia)

Three days later troops deployed throughout the Montreal area. To quote a Harper era Liberal attack ad there were “troops in the streets”. I was one of them back then, a reservist called up for duty. The crisis would end on December 28, 1970.

One can argue as to whether or not Pierre Trudeau did the right thing. Certainly, invoking the War Measures Act was a heavy-handed way to seek a solution to the crisis. Later studies and a Royal Commission would list many of the civil rights abuses and actions committed by the authorities during this period.

Looking back 50 years ago today, it is interesting to think about how the present Prime Minister would have acted if he were faced with the same set of circumstances.

Once the upcoming throne speech is out of the way, it will be time for Question Period again.

Having been involved with Question Perios (QP) for around 15 years, here are a few thoughts for Eric Duncan, the new QP coordinator for the Conservatives.

1. Hire good support staff just for QP work, you will need it.
2. Sit with the boss and decide on his long-term goals IE what is his strategy to defeat Trudeau.
3. Do not be afraid to consult widely on a QP strategy
4. It is not necessary to give a QP slot to the MP who is convinced he has the perfect issue. Listen politely then you decide
5. The MP who complains the most about not getting a question, is not always right- but have the courtesy to listen to them- perhaps one later in the week or one of the last slots that day will satisfy their needs.
6. Remember every MP needs to be seen in their riding taking part in holding the government to account- perhaps an SO 31 is better than a question?
7. Be prepared for you or your staff to rewrite the question for the MP- most of theirs are too long winded.
8. Sit with a stopwatch and time every practice question- there is no point having one cut off by the speaker.
9. Make every MP show up for QP practice- no excuses accepted. Be prepared to cut someone out of QP if they consistently miss practice.
10. The critic does not need to ask every question on their file- give some to others, especially if important to their riding.
11. Sit with your leader every day there is QP, even if he is not attending- review issues and possible questions, strategy etc. Have the leader practice his questions in front of you and later in front of the MPs at the QP practice session- a lot of the time MPs can offer ideas, rewording etc.- it also builds a sense that they are a team- not individuals grandstanding and performing for the cameras.
12. Your leader should not get down in the muck with his questions, they should be from a Prime Minister in waiting.
13. Identify 3 attack dogs who on a regular basis ask the nasty questions- They must be smart and nimble enough to watch the proceedings and the Liberal answers and then ask a question without it always being handed to them.
14. Feigned outrage can be useful, but never overdo it
15. Remember no one issue will bring a government down. It is the slow cuts day after day that do the job- have a long-range vision.
16. Try to restore some dignity and respect into QP. Remember that the MPs opposite you were also elected to represent the views of their constituents.
17. No one on the other side is your enemy, just parliamentarians with a different policy point of view.
18. Above all have fun- you have one of the most challenging, but awesome jobs on the Hill.

The Conservative leadership race is almost over!

What an over-long drawn out affair it has been. Even with COVID-19, there was no excuse for it to take this long.

With modern technology- including online meetings etc., this should have been over months ago. Imagine if we had a new leader place before the WE scandal unfolded.

By waiting this long to pick a new leader, the party has played into Trudeau’s hands allowing him to seek a confidence vote in September and thereby force an election.

The new Conservative leader is faced with the simultaneous tasks of making sure the party remains united after the leadership vote, hiring and putting in place key staff, setting up a campaign team and organization, working with the fundraising arm of the party and putting together a platform. Each of these items takes time- time Trudeau might not give the new leader.

As of Sunday, the new leader had better be off and running as more years with Trudeau as Prime Minister will be disastrous for the country.

There was a discussion on Twitter over the last few days about the need for Trudeau to hire a PMO staffer to watch over and prevent ethical violations and conflict of interest issues for him.

Let me start by saying this is complete nonsense. There are already more than enough people in the PMO. Every one of them should be looking at protecting the PM from damaging issues.

Let us start with the Chief of Staff. Either the chief is running things or not. If not, why is that person there? If her boss is going to a cabinet meeting, she should know when, where and what is on the agenda. She should also know his position on the cabinet items and have insured he was adequately briefed.

If the Chief of Staff is running things, how could this person not to have intervened and spoken directly to her boss the PM, to both warn him and to keep him away from the situation etc.

Was Trudeau’s comment about pushing back on the WE file a result of Telford cautioning him that he would be stepping over the line?

If she did not step in and caution the PM that is a competency issue. If she did caution Trudeau and he still got involved, then senior staff have a huge problem on their hands with this PM.

Every single staff member in the PMO should be watching out for issues that will damage the PM or hurt the government. I find it impossible to believe that no one on staff saw a problem with Trudeau, his family and WE.

In the end though what really matters is how can this Prime Minister be so blind and so oblivious to ethical and conflict of interest issues? It comes down to knowing right from wrong- something Trudeau clearly has a problem with.

Well the halls of Parliament or at least the video airways reverberated with great sound bites as Trudeau testified on WE or shall we call it the WE scandal.

Now let us be clear, Trudeau did not save himself- he just managed to survive.

The real problem is who cares and who is listening?

This is a real inside the Queensway story that reporters feast on and the general public in the rest of Canada replies with when am I supposed to wear a mask?

Outside of the media and political partisans few people care.

That average voter that the political parties are playing to does not care about the intricacies of whether you recuse yourself or not on an issue.

What is clear is that Trudeau is either lying or incompetent. God help the staffer of Prime Minister Harper or I suspect Chretien or Mulroney who proceeded to bring forth a file the PM had said stop or put a hold on. That some staffer obviously kept the file moving forward shows their contempt for Trudeau’s opinion on files. The question is who was that staffer? It would have to be someone very senior.

This story will blow over because in the end the drop in the polls after Trudeau ended his daily COVID 19 briefings should not be unexpected for the Liberals.

In the end the Conservatives have to elect a new leader who can hire the necessary staff to milk this issue in an election when Canadians actually pay attention. The chances of that happening is anyone’s guess but still to be determined.

Judging by the sudden flood of articles that Trudeau feels Morneau was wrong to have accepted WE trips it looks like Morneau will pay the price. Yes, folks PMO does hint to reporters as to what might happen.

My advice for Trudeau goes back many, many years. Look at who your biggest challenger might be for your job and make that person your finance minister. I wonder who that new minister will be? Pretty obvious actually.

As I write this, Bill Morneau still has a job.

While it is hard to imagine that anyone feels this finance minister should still be a cabinet minister, his arrogance is keeping him in the job. Do not count on Trudeau who suffers similar ethical lapses doing anything- he is just as bad if not worse.

This is from the Prime Minister’s Mandate letter to Morneau.

“As Minister, you must ensure that you are aware of and fully compliant with the Conflict of Interest Act and Treasury Board policies and guidelines. You will be provided with a copy of Open and Accountable Government to assist you as you undertake your responsibilities. I ask that you carefully read it, including elements that have been added to strengthen it, and ensure that your staff does so as well.”

“Give particular attention to the Ethical Guidelines set out in Annex A of that document, which apply to you and your staff. As noted in the Guidelines, you must uphold the highest standards of honesty and impartiality, and both the performance of your official duties and the arrangement of your private affairs should bear the closest public scrutiny. This is an obligation that is not fully discharged by simply acting within the law.”

If Morneau has significantly breached his mandate letter obligations and if Trudeau won’t fire him for doing so, who then takes the fall?

If we rule Trudeau and Morneau out, the weakest person in the power structure is Bradish Chagger. While only a junior minister, she did handle the file. But does anyone think that she acted alone?

Junior ministers do not bring $912 million dollar files to cabinet without being backed by other senior ministers and PMO. To do so without advance approval would run the risk of committing political suicide and banishment to the back benches.

Chagger knew she was OK to bring this forward. There had to be discussions with PCO, the department and of course almighty PMO.

Now of course PMO has to find a scapegoat. Chagger who is just a junior minister looks like the one and while her mandate letter says she is to “Support the Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Disability Inclusion to enhance the Youth Employment Strategy and the Canada Summer Jobs program” don’t expect that senior minister (Carla Qualtrough ) to take a hit either.

Trudeau will hang tough until he does his smoke and mirror routine before the committee. The Liberals can then spin that he was open and accountable and blah, blah, blah. I can write these talk points in my sleep. After that, he can go back to taking personal days off.

Once the Liberals see who the next CPC leader will be, he can do a small shuffle, demote Chagger maybe push Morneau sideways and get ready for the next election.

The WE controversy continues to build and get more interesting every day. It is not going away.

Day after day we see one more item coming to the surface which makes the Trudeau deal with WE look more suspicious. From internal financial issues with WE and ME, to procedural issues there are plenty of red flags.

Usually when a government decides to let a minister testify at a committee hearing they do so to shut a story down. This has not happened- instead, other avenues of attack have opened up. However, because a minister appeared, media stories about whether the PM or the Clerk Of The Privy Council should appear before the committee have largely disappeared- success for the Liberals on that point.

Do not kid yourself, ministers will be well briefed, often directly by PMO staff. They will be handed precise talk points and they will be told not to deviate from them.

One of the roles for opposition research is to look beyond the talk point answer and look for what the minister or bureaucrat is hiding.

When a minister answers “I was not directed by the Prime Minister’s Office,” the key word is “directed”

For someone to use the word “directed” is unusual. It has been inserted into the talk point for a reason. It is up to the opposition to figure out what that word is hiding. Was there instead an “informal chat” with someone in PMO that would encourage the minister to see WE’s proposal in a positive light?

Being so precise and using the word “I” eliminates her from a conversation, but what about her staff? Let’s face it most conversations are between PMO staff and a minister’s staff, not PM to minister. Her staff will not direct her, but they can certainly report on conversations they had and what points were emphasized in the conversations they had with other staff in PMO or the Finance Minister’s office.

It would be better to ask did you or anyone on your staff speak to anyone in the PMO, including the PM about this project before it was announced. Did you or your staff receive any emails, texts or voicemails from anyone (minister or staff) in PMO or the Finance minister’s office and so on. The opposition still need to dig down below the surface on this one.

The exact same question can be put to the senior bureaucrats in this case starting with Rachel Wernick. The key is always to go in with your strategy and questions laid out knowing exactly what you are looking for. Do not get sidetracked by a talk point answer.

With this bureaucrat you can replace “PMO” with “PCO”. No minister will approve a huge program (almost a billion dollars) without extensive consultations between her department and PCO. Officials in her department will also be talking to staff in her minister’s office (assigned to this file) to get a feel for what direction the minister wants to go and why.

Anyone who has seen how departments function, know they rarely make decisions this fast. For one thing bureaucrats like collective decisions-making and rarely stick their neck out. Every department has a sign off sheet for briefing notes, decisions etc.

It would be fun to see who signed off on this decision. I remember when at External Affairs in the 1980s (now Global Affairs Canada) seven bureaucrats signed off on every briefing note going to the minister- each one watering it down. The real truth was in the original note written by the desk officer.

This story is far from over if the opposition knows where to look.

Trudeau has apologized again for another ethical mess of his own making. He played his part well staring into the camera, voice soft and low, looking contrite etc. You have to give him high marks for his performance and it certainly took over the daily news coverage.

My guess is most voters will shrug this one off for now. Surviving the pandemic, wearing a mask, trying to figure out if and how their children will be going to school in the fall matters more to them now than the nonsense coming out of Ottawa.

Trudeau’s apology came a week too late. Someone in the PMO, maybe the Prime Minister, was too stubborn to admit an obvious wrong when the story broke and they dragged this out far too long allowing the PM and the Liberals to take a week of hits from the media and the opposition parties.

In spite of the Conservatives glee over this issue, barring any new major revelation this story is running its course. Yes, there will be the drama of whether or not Trudeau will appear before committee to be grilled by opposition MPs. But, why would he subject himself to that when it would only move the story from the back pages to the front page again? They are better to run out a few cabinet ministers who can stick to their talk points. After a few hours of that, the Liberals can shut the committee down and say they gave the opposition and public what they needed to know.

The Conservatives need to be careful. They are treading on dangerous ground when they ask for his resignation, or for him to step aside or for a police investigation. For one thing, setting that precedent now, can come back and bite you when you are the party in government.

They should not push the Liberals too hard when they do not have a leader. The PM can always ask the people to decide if he should remain the leader and while polls have dipped slightly over this issue it is far from a fatal blow to the government or to the PM’s personal popularity.

This issue will not defeat the government, nor would it have defeated previous Liberal or Conservative governments. Governments are defeated over time as they become more arrogant and mistake after mistake piles up diminishing their record and popularity and that applies to all political parties.

The present government and its ethically challenged leader have not reached that point yet.

The WE scandal continues to gain momentum with each passing day.

What first looked like a case of bad judgement has turned into claims of cronyism, ethics violations, an ethics investigation and now demands for a criminal investigation.

The bigger issue is that Trudeau just shrugs this off as something he is entitled to do because after all he is a Trudeau. I have even seen articles where variations of that excuse are offered up to defend his complete lack of ethics.

Back in 2015, I was writing that eventually Trudeau’s arrogance will catch up to him and to his party as well. Over decades of doing political research and tracking that party and its misdeeds, this type of behavior always surfaces. The Liberal Party and their present leader really do believe that they are “Entitled to Their Entitlements” a slogan that came from a comment of David Dingwall in 2005 and used very successfully by the Conservatives in the 2006 election.

We are also seeing what appear to be leaks of serious information about WE, such as the monies paid out by the charity to Trudeau’s mother and brother and also linking the Finance Minister and his family to the charity. Someone has an axe to grind and it is adding to the mess created by this scandal. This type of drip…drip…drip leaking is very hard for PMO to contain and defend against.

Trudeau will survive for now because the Conservatives have said they will not attempt to bring down the government- thankfully, they are smart enough to know they do not want to campaign under Scheer again. I also hope they are smart enough to save some of the best things they find out to use later.

These scandals have a habit of resurfacing at election time and they make for wonderful political attack ads. In an election, we called these “channel changers”. We could unload these stinkers at anytime, but they were especially useful to divert the press if the Liberals were doing well

Just wait, there will be more to come in the days ahead.